Zump, a new off-market property app, has launched in Bristol with the promise to empower house hunters to take control of their search when they can’t find what they’re looking for on Rightmove or through estate agents.
Co-Founded by former Bristol Bears player Danny Gray (pictured right), Zump transforms the process of buying or selling a property, empowers house hunters and provides a solution to many of the apparent shortcomings in the housing market today.
‘Off-market’ refers to any property not currently listed on a portal or with an estate agent. Across BS postcodes, it’s estimated that right now there are over 114,000 people who are thinking about moving but only around 3,250 houses listed on Rightmove. The number of properties a buyer can interact with on Zump is 455,000.
Following his career as a professional rugby player, Zump co-founder Danny Gray has built up considerable experience over the last 15 years in both the supply and demand side of the property industry.
He tells us, “There’s currently a huge shortfall in available on-market properties meaning many buyers are unable to find what they want, which deters them from continuing their search and ultimately listing their own property for sale.
“This, coupled with the fact that formally listing with an estate agent is currently the only way to see who might be interested in your property – an all or nothing approach with expensive fees attached – means many people just don’t bother and end up staying put. Zump is here to break this vicious cycle.”
Zump is a smart solution aimed at prospective buyers who’ve not been able to find the right house, in the right street, school catchment area or simply a property close enough to their favourite amenities, via portals or estate agents.
The app’s ‘Smart Search’ feature, allows buyers to specify certain filters such as the number of bedrooms, value and property type. Buyers can then go anywhere on the map, press the ‘search here’ button and the map will drop pins on every off-market property that fits the buyer’s requirements in that location.
For homeowners thinking about selling, it’s an opportunity to safely gauge interest in their property, which they can do by simply sharing it on the app. No fees, no obligations, no contracts. Any connections made between buyers and owners are then supported by Zump’s expert Property Advisors, who will act as a single point of contact for completing the sale.
Zump is the brainchild of brothers Danny and Jamie Gray, who between them have 30 years of experience in the property industry. This has included the setting up of NEXA Properties, which is a challenger to the traditional estate agency model. Danny and Jamie are now looking to bring further innovation to the property market with the launch of Zump.
Danny Gray adds, “We know there will always be the need for quality estate agents and property portals, but we do believe that some of the problems have remained for far too long. Providing a different solution and more choice is a necessary step in an industry that has remained relatively unchanged for over 20 years. Not enough choice and too many barriers for owners to enter the market passively has led to a bottle neck and a chicken and egg scenario, which needs fixing.”
Although around 9m of us search for a property each year in the UK, only around 1.2m properties are transacted.
Danny says, “Our mission is to help more people find and connect with the properties they love. We’ve built our tech to allow this to happen wherever you are in Bristol, which we believe is an ideal launch pad for us. It’s a sizeable city that has a real vibrancy and an open-mindedness that we think will resonate with an innovative and disruptive new brand like us. Whether it’s Bedminster or Gloucester Road, Redland or Brislington, we want to connect the people of Bristol through our app so that they can choose their favourite pocket of the city in which to call home and build new memories.
“We hope it won’t be long until we can say the same thing about the rest of the UK and overseas. Our vision is for Zump to give people across the world greater opportunity to achieve their property aspirations.”
